METAIRIE, La. — Tulane erupted for six runs on six hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to open up a 7-0 lead and win the NCAA Super Regional over LSU, 7-1, on Sunday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 11,870 in Metairie’s Zephyr Field.
The LSU baseball team and athletic director-to-be Skip Bertman end the season at 44-22-1, while Tulane advanced to the College World Series for the first time and improved to 55-11 overall. The Green Wave will face the winner of South Carolina and Stanford in the first round of the CWS in Omaha, Neb., on either Friday or Saturday.
Bertman coached his final game at LSU and finished his 18-year career as head coach at LSU at 870-330-3. His career winning percentage ranks 14th in the history of collegiate baseball.
Tulane starter Beau Richardson pitched a complete game seven-hit performance to improve to 7-1 on the season. He allowed only one run and one walk while striking out eight.
LSU senior starter Tim Nugent (7-3) worked his way out of a first-inning jam with only one run across the board, but couldn’t work the same magic in the third. Tulane send 10 batters to the plate and earned a pair of singles, a double and a walk to drive Nugent to the shower.
Reliever Roy Corcoran gave up three singles before recording the third out and Tulane led 7-0 through four complete innings. Corcoran pitched the final five innings, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out five.
After Sean Barker walked, stole second and was driven in by Johnnie Thibodeaux’s double to start the top of the fifth, the LSU comeback attempt died when Richardson recorded three-straight outs to end the inning.
LSU won game 1 of the best-of-three series, 4-3 in 13 innings, before losing the final two games, 9-4 and 7-1. The Tigers, the defending national champions, were attempting to make their 12th CWS appearance in the past 16 seasons.
Five seniors also completed their careers at LSU: Nugent, Thibodeaux, Jason Scobie, Ray Wright and Jamin Garidel.